MCAM as a Radioligand Therapy Target
MCAM, melanoma cell adhesion molecule, is a cell-surface protein. In Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry, MCAM staining is highest in melanoma (92% of samples positive), head and neck cancer (100% of samples positive) and testicular cancer (67% of samples positive). Clinical status: Clinical-stage (up to phase 1, any modality).
Is MCAM a good radioligand therapy target?
Scored against the six criteria that decide whether a protein can become a radioligand therapy:
- ✅ Cell-surface accessibility: Localized to the cell surface, so a radioligand can reach it from circulation.
- ✅ Tumor expression: High IHC staining in melanoma, 92% of samples positive.
- ❔ Internalization: Not yet assessed.
- ✅ Clinical precedent: Clinical-stage (up to phase 1, any modality)
- ❔ Shedding: Not yet assessed.
- ❔ Normal-tissue dosimetry: Check kidney, liver, bone marrow and salivary expression in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas.
MCAM expression in cancer
Protein expression of MCAM across 20 cancer types from Human Protein Atlas immunohistochemistry. The score is a weighted staining intensity from 0 to 1; "% positive" is the share of patient samples with detectable staining.
| Cancer type | IHC score | Level | % positive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melanoma | 0.64 | High | 92% |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 0.50 | Medium | 100% |
| Testicular Cancer | 0.33 | Medium | 67% |
| Lung Cancer | 0.28 | Medium | 58% |
| Cervical Cancer | 0.28 | Medium | 50% |
| Thyroid Cancer | 0.25 | Medium | 50% |
| Endometrial Cancer | 0.24 | Medium | 55% |
| Pancreatic Cancer | 0.18 | Low | 46% |
| Skin Cancer | 0.17 | Low | 42% |
| Liver Cancer | 0.15 | Low | 36% |
| Glioma | 0.14 | Low | 33% |
| Breast Cancer | 0.11 | Low | 25% |
| Ovarian Cancer | 0.09 | Low | 18% |
| Neuroendocrine Tumors | 0.08 | Low | 25% |
| Gastric Cancer | 0.06 | Low | 17% |
| Bladder Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 10% |
| Prostate Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 10% |
| Colorectal Cancer | 0.03 | Low | 8% |
Not detected by IHC in: lymphoma, kidney cancer.
Is MCAM internalized?
Nuclens has not yet extracted internalization evidence for MCAM. Internalization matters for radioligands because an internalizing receptor traps the radionuclide inside the tumor cell. Run a full analysis to pull the latest literature.
MCAM clinical trials
Clinical-stage (up to phase 1, any modality). Nuclens hasn't indexed trials for MCAM yet. Search ClinicalTrials.gov for MCAM trials.
MCAM normal tissue expression
Normal-tissue expression in dose-limiting organs (kidney, liver, bone marrow, salivary glands) drives radioligand dosimetry risk. Nuclens is re-validating its normal-tissue values, so they are not shown here yet. See MCAM in the Human Protein Atlas tissue atlas, and read how normal-tissue expression predicts radioligand dosimetry risk.
MCAM gene essentiality (DepMap)
CRISPR knockout effect across 1258 cancer cell lines: 0.05 (not essential). Radioligands kill by radiation, not by blocking the target, so essentiality matters less than for inhibitors. A non-essential target can still be an excellent radioligand target.
Related melanoma radioligand targets
HER3 (ERBB3) · c-MET (MET) · STEAP2 · SSTR2 · B7-H3 (CD276) · ITGAV · TMEFF2 · FAP
See all radioligand therapy targets in melanoma.
See how MCAM ranks against 15,000 targets for your indication.
Run a free analysisData sources
Subcellular localization: UniProt via Open Targets (CC BY 4.0 / CC0). Tumor immunohistochemistry: Human Protein Atlas (CC BY-SA 4.0). Clinical trials: ClinicalTrials.gov (public domain). Gene essentiality: DepMap (CC BY 4.0). Internalization and shedding: AI-extracted from PubMed abstracts, so verify against the cited papers before relying on them. Nuclens is a first-pass triage layer, not a substitute for wet-lab validation or clinical dosimetry. Derived expression data on this page is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.